TESTIMONIALS FROM PAST PATAPHYSICS WORKSHOPS

I've heard several people mention that the 'Pataphysics workshops are "the place to go" if you want a playwriting workshop. The Flea seems to recognize the importance of the exchange of ideas and experiences between young, or not yet fully "established" writers. I've learned so much from the other participants' work and responses and formed important new relationships. I've now taken workshops with Erik Ehn and Mac Wellman, and have found them both to be extraordinarily generous about sharing their experiences as active readers, writers, people. And they've planted in my brain a new vocabulary in which to talk about plays, and sent me off wanting to become more active myself.
-- Kate Ryan

Fresh Kills, the 10 min. play I wrote for the Jose Rivera workshop in 2001 was expanded into a full length while I was attending NYU and will premier at the Royal Court in London in Nov...almost 3 years after the workshop. I never would have taken the risk and written this dark little play without Jose's assignment...thanks!
-- Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder

I was immensely fulfilled by the Jose Rivera workshop. I found his methods inspiring and thoughtful, and as a man he was very warm and receptive. Instead of the intellectual, deconstructionist twaddle, which leaves one full of nothing but inept concept and innocuous ideas, we were met with a man whose approach was through the soul, and in our discussions, in our exercises, I found a far more real and visceral approach. The weekends we spent together were a great haven and sanctuary from the chaos in my own life and I found them deeply rewarding. Jose spurred me on to think in different ways. and his matter of doing this was elusive yet clear. It is vital we find people whom we have a communion with, and in Jose I felt something akin to this. When one's own methods are reinforced by other writers who are established, it gives one an even stronger conviction and confirmation that you are on the right path.
-- John Hanshe

Fornes is wise and inspiring, catalytic. I felt rejuvenated after taking the workshop and keenly focused on my writing.
-- Peggy Stafford

Eric Ehn's workshop was a WORK shop. From the moment I sat down he had us writing. Erik's generosity and openness permeated the entire experience creating a natural environment to work in. It was an experience I wouldn't hesitate recommending to any writer or artist regardless of their background - it beamed with an inclusive spirit.
-- Deron Bos

I took the Jeff Jones and the Mac Wellman workshops at the Flea this year. Both of them offered unique exercises and tools for approaching theater writing. These really are the best workshops I've found in New York for playwriting because they genuinely inspired me to continue writing. Both teachers somehow managed to address the specific constraints of dramatic writing while, at the same time, opening up all the unexplored possibilities for new work.
-- Anne Marie Healy

The two Pataphysics workshops I took were amazing experiences. I had the chance to be in the same room with two huge forces in American theater [Jeff Jones and Mac Wellman], both of whom I have admired for years, and who live, think, and breath theater in ways completely unique to themselves. Their perspectives on writing and on art and even life were invaluable. My work will never be the same. I got the creative kick in the ass I was looking for, and more.
-- Sonya Sobieski

I'm very grateful to The Flea for creating these workshops. The Flea brings in some of the most innovative and exciting playwrights working today to share their knowledge, their craft, and their techniques. The Fornes Workshop was interesting. She is a pioneer in her field and it was wonderful to listen to her for two weekends. Her generosity was inspiring. This work is so important to help playwrights learn their craft and get inspired to write their stories, ideas, feelings, and passions.
-- Craig Harwood

Eduardo Machado condensed a profound and preferably long-term approach into a clear, effective sampling over the course of four sessions. I found myself able to hear and experience the value in his approach, with its insistence on the truth of the bodily grounding of emotion, need and motive, and left the sessions resolved to continue practicing it (or trying to) on my own.
-- Kate Wilson

Karen Finley is a fierce woman who has the experience, the sensitivity and the professionalism to deal with the personal. Her Pataphysics workshop at The Flea was extremely personal for everyone involved. It was completely process oriented. I broke through a block that I had placed in front of myself for years. I was able to create something in two days that was interesting and provocative to me without standing outside myself in judgement. I was able to just jump into the muck of it. It was a beautiful experience, one that I'll never forget.
-- Hilary Ketchum

Jeff Jones workshop a The Flea was one of the best creative writing workshop experiences I have had. I took creative writing workshops as an undergraduate and am currently in an MFA program at present, so I have had my share of teachers. I though Jeff brought a rarely found mix of intelligence, clarity and focus to the class. Unlike what seems to be the norm for writing classes, he actually sought to teach us a way of looking at theatre and an aesthetic, rather than just critique the student's work. In addition, Jeff went far beyond the clichés of most creative writing classes and what he taught was unique and inspiring for me as a writer. Jeff Jones' workshop was a watershed experience for me.
-- Susan Dunlap

Eduardo Machado's class did exactly what I wanted it to do---it provoked and inspired me to think more articulately about writing plays.
-- Kirk Marcoe

Mac Wellman's workshop was provocative, circuit-breaking and intense. It offered new challenges and ways of approaching work. It opened me ears and skin to the extraordinary rhythms of speech and image all around me. The Iconoclastic approach Mac took seemed just right for an intensive workshop: like a Zen koan it woke me up and renewed my attention to the present. I love theatre that wakes me and revives the mystery in the everyday (I see it too seldom on out stages) and a workshop that can do the same surely bodes well for its effect on our future writings! It was also great to meet so many talented and eccentric writers.
-- Christine Evans

The Jeff Jones workshop at The Flea reminded me that leaps can be brought about through collaborative learning process. As I hadn't attempted a playwriting workshop since undergrad this felt renaissance. The workshop was not as much about the craft of structure as it was about the active sampling process and it affirmed sampling as a viable disciplined craft.
-- Susanna Speier

Eduardo Machado's workshop was terrific. He's a wonderful teacher. His exercises were instructive and interesting. His comments were incisive and thoughtful.
-- Rick Ruscoll

I thoroughly enjoyed Eduardo Machado's playwriting workshop. He is an incredibly kind and gifted teacher and I know that besides myself there were many other people in the class who just didn't want the workshop to end. What I especially liked about Eduardo's Workshop was his very natural and intuitive approach to writing. In the workshop I learned a lot of new techniques that were never taught at university when I studied playwrighting years ago. I have been using these techniques since the workshop and will definitely continue to do so.
-- Mary Beth Maslowski

In the first two minutes of taking a workshop with Mac Wellman, I knew I was in the presence of a revolutionary, and I don't mean to use that label lightly but as an apt description of someone who demands theatre that will open up to its many possibilities rather to continue to suffer under rigid regional theatre rules. It makes for an incredibly charged atmosphere to work in, one where I felt I could begin to see and work within an open landscape rather than being scolded for not adhering to some outdated and corny ideas of what a play should BE. Plus, it was a lot of fun.
-- Deron Bos